Wednesday, October 30, 2013

Is Time Running Out?

Is Time Running Out?




I wonder, is time running out for the “Republicans” and/or “Conservatives”? I wonder. As I watched the hearings on Capital Hill the past couple of weeks, it is more and more clear to me that if the “Progressives” take back the house in November of 2014, those who are to the left of those of us who failed to vote in the last General Election for “President”, gave our America to “Communism”!



I look back to the time I was in Vietnam, fighting, even bleeding, and ready to even die, for the “Republic” called “The United States of America”, the country I grew up believing that “All Americans” thought as I did, with the exceptions of those who protested against the war I thought was to free or keep free South Vietnam, halting Communism in it’s tracks. I would go on, as so many did, wearing my uniform, serving in ASA and then INSCOM, a “Special Intelligence” group of dedicated Americans, who knew what “Communism” would mean to our country, should it creep into our system. I guess it did, only more than I ever imagined!



We not only elected a President who leaned much to far to the “Left” that he surely must have touched shoulders with what could only be “Socialism”, and might even go as far as to say he leaned into the world of Communism and with his being reelected, only mad the possibility of his “dream to transform our “Republic” into his world of at a minimum Socialism, and more probable, Communism. Are we to late? Has time run out? Or do we still have a chance to stop the spread of this transformation of our America and turn her around and return to what our Forefathers dreamed of when they sat down and wrote our “Constitution” I pray their dream, and now ours, will be fulfilled by keeping the House, taking the Senate, and when the time comes, electing a strong Christian Conservative to the White House. Then and only then do we have a chance to take a deep breath and say, “No, time is not running out” we did what we needed to do and returned our America to those who care for her enough, love her enough, and bring “God” back to the country he gave to us. God bless America!

Saturday, February 18, 2012

SarahPAC - Sarah Palin's Official PAC

Senator Saxby Chambliss of Georgia’s response to my question related to S. 1871, the "STOCK Act":

Dear Mr. Gregory:

Thank you for contacting me about legislation to ensure Members of Congress are not profiting on insider information. It is good to hear from you.

I have always believed the American people should have complete faith in who they choose to send to Congress and I have been eager to see more reforms for elected government like the Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge Act (Stock Act).

While the Securities and Exchange Commission has stated they do believe they have the authority to prosecute members of Congress and their staff, some legal scholars and insider trading experts question this, stating that Congress is exempt from prosecution for insider trading cases. In order to ensure that insider trading by members of Congress is explicitly illegal I became a co-sponsor of S. 1871, the "STOCK Act", which would prohibit federal lawmakers, their staffs and executive branch employees from using nonpublic information obtained through public service for any attempt at personal financial gain.

On February 2, 2011, the Senate passed the STOCK Act by a wide margin. Along with 95 other Senators I voted in favor of this legislation. The House of Representatives passed a modified version of the STOCK Act on February 9th. The House and Senate must now resolve the differences in the respective bills. It is my hope that this will be accomplished quickly, and that the bill will soon be sent to the President for his signature.

Currently, like all members of Congress, I annually file a publicly available financial disclosure form that details all of my personal financial activity. The purpose of this filing is to provide transparency and accountability for all members of Congress and to ensure the integrity of our financial decisions and actions.

If you would like to receive timely email alerts regarding the latest congressional actions and my weekly e-newsletter, please sign up via my web site at: www.chambliss.senate.gov. Please let me know whenever you believe I may be of assistance to you.

(My response to the above:)



Senator Saxby Chambliss,

The response to my question on this subject matter is just repeating what you already provided, rather than answering the specific question or concern. My wife and I have always voted for you since we moved to Georgia and my wife, Valerie, obtained her citizenship here, giving up her British citizenship to become a "proud American Citizen" who probably knows more about American Government than I do.

Val attended Citizenship classes in California while I was serving in Vietnam, and it was here in Georgia she stood before a judge and answered questions and was sworn in while I was stationed at Ft. Gordon, in Augusta, so that I could regain my Security Access and we were sent to Ethiopia where we had an ASA Field Stationed, located in Asmara. She sacrificed a lot for me to continue in the field I served in (ASA, then INSCOM) and was what I would call the "perfect soldier's wife" who contributed more than most over the 20 years of military service I am proud to have provided the country I love so much.


But I must tell you Sir, I am a little disappointed that my questioned was not answered but only reflected what frustrates so many when they ask an elected member of either the House or Senate a simple question. All I wanted to know is how does S. 1871, the "STOCK Act" impact not by those who should be held to the same standard of those who believed in them, enough to elect them to the office they serve, their constituents, but members of their (Congressmen and Senators) families both immediate and extended, as well as their friends. What language in S.1871 prevents our elected leaders who serve in Congress from providing their privileged knowledge to members of their family to be used for personal gain, therefore lining the pockets of our trusted officials in question by proxy?

I am a simple minded 100% disabled Vietnam Veteran who like many others, are losing faith and trust in those we once fully supported and held to a higher standard, apparently higher than those we elected. Please forgive me if in any way this communication is or appears to be disrespectful, that is not my intention, but rather my duty as a Citizen of not only the Country I love, but the State of Georgia, my chosen State (I was Born in California) but have been a citizen of Georgia since 1982.

I wore my uniform for over 20 years, shed blood on foreign soil as so many others did, many giving far more than I, and lived in countries where sacrifice was not only mine, but my family, by choice, to ensure that we remain a "Republic" rather than the "Socialistic" direction my Government is taking us. I cannot express the pain of what is happening to "We the People" who believe in what our "Forefathers" gave us, trusted in us to preserve, the gift of our "Constitution" that protects us from the very Government who freely spends the hard earned money of a people who had faith in not only those who Govern, but each other.

We, those who elected the very people of whom I speak, share in the responsibility, for we are the people who elected those holding office, be it the House, the Senate, or the Oval Office, but we did so in "Good Faith" as our "Forefathers" entrusted us, we entrusted you. My health is not very good at this point in time, and I may be lucky enough not to see my America disappear into memory of free men, one day to be a footnote in history. My father (33 years of military service), one of my brothers (26 years of military service), another brother (22 years of military service), another brother (18 years of military service), my son (16 years of military service) and I (20 plus years of military service), a total of over 135 years of military service, all with honor, all serving to keep our great nation a free "Republic" never to fall to "Socialism" or "Communism". Now, the certainty of that are only a hope and a prayer, as those in Congress fail to hold those in the White House accountable, but then they are failing to hold themselves accountable and the treasures of our country squandered, and spent as if "We the People" do not matter. My father mattered, now buried at Arlington Cemetery along with my mother. My brother mattered, now buried at Arlington Cemetery. And all my brothers and son matter as they now live their lives, as I do, in prayer for a once great nation, slowly turning into what "we" all had disdain for, and still do, any governance of our America other than the one our Forefathers intended. My son continues to serve, only as a civilian now, as a contractor for our high.

Forgive me Senator Chambliss for going on more than I intended, but time is running out, and although I will do my part, as my wife and son will, when it comes to letting our voice be heard through our votes, but I fear that we who truly care will be outnumbered by those who fail to see what is happening to our America, and vote for more slick talk, more lies, more promises not kept, and less understanding of the price to be paid for getting it wrong in November. If I can't get a simple answer to my one question, by a man I respect and believe in, how can I expect anything more from the rest, from those I have no respect for, no faith in, no trust. I want to live long enough to cast my vote, but if we fail, then I guess I won't mind should my creator call me home sooner than I would like to go. To lose the country our "Forefathers" entrusted to us, watch our "Constitution" decay by being ignored, is more than I can accept. All I ask is that you do your part, and if I am wrong about you’re not answering my question, then I beg your forgiveness and offer my sincere apology.

Sincerely,

Milton F Gregory (MSG, U.S. Army, Retired)

Friday, January 27, 2012

America Needs Us


Yesterday, prior to the President’s “State of the Union” address to the “Congress”, I lay in my bed considering what this man has done and is doing to my America, “Our America”, and as bad as I felt, I felt even worse as I looked outside and viewed my garden, in its “Winter” state, then felt a tear on my cheek. The tear was not for our grey and garden in its usual winter drab appearance, nor was it the usual pain I felt riddled throughout my body, but the thought of what was coming last night, a meaningless, dreary speech made up of words filled with untruths and hollow, empty oratory that could only antagonize those of us who still have deep feeling for a country we believe in, and “We the People” who are what I believe God intended this country to be defended, loved and honored by. But for the moment I gazed at a small wren sitting on a branch outside my window and fell in love with America all over again. America, she needs us, all of us, and she needs us to do the right thing in November, and that is to “Restore” America, restore her honor, her dignity and her good name! America needs us!

I doubt if I can recall every trip I made across my America, or all the places I have been to, visited, or passed through. But I will always remember the beauty of the America I wish I had grown up in, at least more than the few years I did, after all, as an Air Force brat, I traveled the world, with the rest of my family, first with my father, then later as a member of the United States Army Security Agency, later to become the United States Army Intelligence and Security Command, and will always be grateful for the gift of having the opportunity to see the world before it became the current disaster it has become, as a result of power hungry men and women, filled with greed. No, I will always be grateful for the opportunities provided to me just because I was born in the good old USA, I am an American, and a very proud American at that, never ashamed of who I am, but so ashamed of the man who leads this great land as our President. But as ashamed as I am of this President, I believe in the American dream, the American way, and the American will to be great, the model for every free thinking man or woman to strive for! What a country, and anyone who has given up on her, never really ever knew her.

When I lie on the ground and feel the cool earth, I can almost hear her heart beat, feel the swell of the ground beneath me as she breaths. America is more than just dirt, rocks and trees, she is the dreams of every American, the heart of who we are and what makes us proud to be called “American”, feeling the pride deep within our souls. God not only blessed us with a gift, but kept the spirit of America alive in each of us who knows what being an American is, everyone who ever thought themselves to be a part of the “Tea Party” movement knows just what I am saying, for those in Washington who feel and have recently spewed the false premise that the “Tea Party” is dead, it never accrued to me that to be a possibility. I believe deep inside that the “Tea Party” is alive and well, and to doubt that will be a very dangerous assumption to make, but then, that’s fine with me! The more mistakes of that nature this President and those in the halls of Congress make, the more I feel this President is, along with his Socialist, Progressives, in Congress and the Senate are to looking in the want ads for their next job come November. But then, with all the money most of them have managed to pocket from the “Tax Payers” of this country, I am sure they all will be just fine as they travel the world, looking for the “utopia” they all want to live in, after trashing our America. We will get back up and fix what they broke, of that I am confident. November will be the most important election of our lifetimes, and that is not just something one says, it’s a fact, one we all must take serious and be sure to get out the vote!

Look around you and take in the beauty of our America, look at what we could lose if we fail, and we cannot do that, far more than anyone at the “Capital” has to lose, after all, they are blind to the great wonders of the most diverse country in the world. Filled with beauty from shore to shore, an abundance of natural resources being withheld from those who are willing to die for what God blessed us with and continues to bless us with every day. The backbone of those who brought those resources to be the power providing the engines that truly created the roadmap to the American dream. In the way of that elusive dream are men who thirst for power and money, and if crushing the American dream is the price for those we placed in positions of power and trust is preventing “We the People” from the continuance of building our America, then to those who betray us say; “So be it”!

How is it that these men of little substance can travel across the highways that bring the shores of East and West together can in good conscience deny those of us who only want to enjoy the gifts provided by our creator? Yet, we continue to elect them and reelect them so that they can continue to bring us closer and closer to leaving behind us that special gift God left us, only to diminish the meaning of a “Free” America? Yes, power and money drive these men and women of Capital Hill, men and women who for some reason fail those who elected them into a life where five hundred or so men and women decide the fate of millions of God loving good men and women who only want our future generations to know the blessings we have come to observe slipping away from us, and should they miss out on what we have known, and maybe some of us just might have taken for granted “America the Beautiful”! America needs us; she is begging us not to forget that a price has been paid for her existence, so that we and our children might enjoy the many gifts she has to offer. Please, I implore each of you to look at our America, every time you travel her roads, hike her mountains and parks, swim or fish in her waters, and smell the scent of the flowers that grace her hillsides and prairies, painted by God’s finger, what can be more beautiful that our America? Oh, our America needs us; she cries out for our help, we must not let her down.

Although I grew up around the world, I was lucky enough to spend some of my younger years in places that explode with the beauty of an America that a loving God blessed all of us with. He place his trust in us to keep her as close to the way he gave her to us, with all her beauty and wonder. While traveling the world I saw the wonders of what was given to many, and they all were entrusted to protect, so that our children and theirs will know the power of a gentle, loving God, who leaves us with a world of beauty and goodness, filled with generations of natural resources that our President would prevent us from accessing to be free from dependency by those who would destroy us, given the chance. He provided us with plenty and those in power turn their backs on God’s gifts, in order to limit those who want to know the American dream, so that they become dependent on those in power, “our elected leaders”, something our “Forefathers” had the insight to limit their efforts to take away the freedoms bestowed on each of us. And America cries out, “We the People” have the power to change all that by just casting one vote, each of us who want to restore honor and dignity to this great land, God’s blessing to those who understand the power they hold in their hands, they just have to cast their vote and return both the White House, Congress and Senate, back to the people, those who love and hear the call of our America’s cries for us to “Act”, echoing daily throughout this great nation called “The United States of America”! Oh yes, America needs us, are we going to join hands and stop the clear acts of those who ignore the “Constitution”, have contempt for the “Rule of Law” and promise to Socialize the only power on earth, power God provided us to protect his nation against the many who would bring the horrors of evil and hate to the shores that our children and grand children play on, swim in the seas that brought our forefathers who would declare our independence, write that perfect document called the “Constitution”, amended by men who acknowledged flaws of what no man could see at the time it was written. America is calling out to us, she needs us. Look around, do we really want to hand over to those who fail to understand God’s gifts? Can we actually do that?

Last night our President stood up and declared the repeated falsehoods proclaimed by the same President who promised what he knew he could not deliver, for this man followed the teachings of men who hated our “Republic”, the intended freedoms of our democracy, and most of all, that nearly perfect document called the “Constitution” only stands in the way of those who now lead us, lead this nation, and she cries out for us to hear the pain of her being slowly dissolved by men of little substance, but of great hatred for freedoms they were taught to hate. America is in trouble, and all she needs is for us to hear her cries, to respond, to vote, to get others to vote, bring back what is being stolen from all free Americans, their souls. Well, I for one will not allow my soul to be taken, not by any man, but only by my creator, and that will come all too soon. I pray to bring my vote to the elections of November 2012, and make my vote heard, let my America know I have not given up on her, she still matters, I hear her cries and if my life must be paid to ensure she lives on, then so be it. God knows that we are listening; he now waits to see if we do something about what we hear! America is calling out, she needs us, she needs us more than ever and we must and will respond, find her soul and embrace it once again, “We the People” will restore the health of an America worthy of our love, our responding to what she needs, and she needs us! As my ability to contribute continues to weaken, I know the price of failing to give what little I have left and that price is far too high, so I continue, I hear the cries of my America in the voice of every American who fails to understand what we are about to lose if we do not embrace our America and by our votes, tell her, we still care, and we will not let her down. It’s only too late if we turn our backs on her, that is something I cannot, nor will I ever do. So, I reach out for every had that will grasp mine and together we will save our America, after all, she needs us!

Friday, December 30, 2011

Happy New Year - Please!


Celebrating the birth of Christ, surrounded by my wife, all of my three granddaughters by birth, and two by marriage, and my “God Children”, Josh and Beth, the children of one of my best friends, Joe and Michele, who we have made a part of our family since they came into our lives, he as my employee, and she as his wife. The only thing missing is my living son, Milt III, who continues, now over 10 years serving us all in places as Kuwait, Saudi, Iraq, Somalia, and Bahrain, along with places I am not at liberty to say. But he was here with us in spirit. Of course our son that we lost when he was only a young 36 years old, but his beautiful wife and little Sarah, his youngest daughter, along with his oldest daughter, Emma, filled our house with love and Christmas joy, only their presence could achieve, knowing that the Christ Child was here, present in our hearts, and the joy of God’s only son’s spirit filling the house of the Gregory family, to be praised by us all, for his love and special gift of his “Holy Love” giving us hope for a new and promising year, one filled with not only his hope, but his blessings, as we ready ourselves to face the year, 2012! God has blessed America and I believe he will continue to do so in the coming year…. We will soon know for sure if our endless prayers have been answered in the way we all want, with a new President, one strong enough, filled with solid Christian, Conservative values, enough to restore our America to the one we all are filled with inner promise to have returned to us.



One more day to complete 2011, one more day for our hope and prayers to be acknowledged by our creator as our promised land to be restored to the gift left to us by the one and only God, who has always brought hope into the Gregory house, filling the air with the promise of a new beginning for all of America. Can anyone of us deny that we have not reached out to the God we trust and love, praying for a restored faith and belief our gift from a loving God has been once again been returned to we who have trusted and believed in his power to return America to “We the People” and all of us believed in his power to do so. Now we just need to determine who it will be that will be our president, and guide us to that American dream that will fill our hearts with restored faith in our loving creator, and whoever is nominated, it will be up to us to reach inside ourselves for the inner strength to support whoever that person might be, and we must not fail be not living up to our own expectations, but to gather our strength and fill the air with the American will to defeat those who will bring America down, should we fight amongst ourselves and our selfish desire to “Win” only if we can have our way. We all must trust that God will guide us to the candidate who will take us where we want to go, a restored and honorable America! We must collate around the candidate who won by the American vote! To do otherwise will ensure another four years, the cost being loss of the America we all love and know as our forefather’s gift to us all.



A Happy New Year can only be realized by our commitment to achieving a “Conservative House, Senate, and Executive Government, filled with Christian Conservatives who are dedicated to bringing back an honorable America, one the people around the world remember and depended on. It will always be “We the People” who will be counted on to ensure that we bring that dream to fruition, never to allow Socialism or any form of radical progressive snakes to worm their way back into a position in government that will give the slightest chance for their return to power again. To do so will cause the American experiment to fail and bring us to our knees, only to fill our hearts with torment for failing to give our country, the America God gave and blessed, to us, a chance to fulfill our forefather’s dream of an America that they envisioned, as they envisioned it, led by patriots who put America and “We the People” first, always before anything else, always before those who are elected by “We the People” who believe in them and their dedication to fulfill the dream of those who signed the Constitution, the soul of our America. You want a Happy New Year, then let’s not fail and vote those into office who will ensure that our hopes and beliefs are realized, and “We the People” can feel the soul of America once again flow through the veins of a living America, one blessed by God, and protected by us, “We the People” who are entrusted to carry the burden of keeping our America the America endanger of being lost to Socialism, Marxist Progressives, who want to create an America of “Dependence” casting away the incentive to grow and develop self responsibility for our actions and future.



It is up to us now, we must not, cannot fail, or we will lose so much more than the America once respected and loved by the free world. We risk it all if we become complacent and let those who hunger for self power and financial gain, rather than follow our Christian beliefs and values, and do what we know is right, remove those who fail us in Washington, and replace them with those willing to sacrifice to ensure the America we know is out there. If we want a Happy New Year, let us never allow those Progressives to influence those who have become a population of weaklings, who have evolved into a people dependence, allow that, and we will lose, so we have no choice, let’s make sure we have our “Happy New Year” and get it right at the voting booths come Nov of 2012. Let’s make sure the only tears shed are tears of joy, that we have ensured the positive future of our great land, the land God provided us, and for us to never allow to be lost to those who will take her to a place we never want to be. So, believing as I do, that we will never allow Progressives to win a battle we cannot lose, I know that we will all have a very Happy New Year, by Nov, of 2012, and making 2013 an even Happier New Year we have ever known in our lifetimes. We can and we will make it happen! We have no choice, so I now wish all of you a very Happy New Year, I know mine will be, something tells me that God is on our side on this one, and America will be wide awake on election day, and that gives me not only hope, but promise, that our future will not be lost to the Progressives, but delivered to “We the People” who will restore the “Honor” of the American Dream! Happy New Year to all my friends and all those Christian Conservatives who, like me, have faith and trust in our creator to deliver us the best New Year we have prayed for, and will receive, so be sure to make sure you will, like my wife and I will do, cast our Vote for the nominated Republican choice, even if it was not my first choice, it will be the choice of the American People, and that is good enough for me. God bless, see you on the other side! Happy New Year!


Tuesday, September 6, 2011

Remembering 9/11, 2001


I will not make this a long dissertation on a day that needs few words for the images say far more than I or anyone could. After all, how do you paint a picture in words of the evil of hatred so horrifying that only God could possibly comprehend?

Like every person alive that day, old enough to understand, I can recall exactly what I was doing and where I was at. How could I forget? In many ways I want to forget the horrors, but never the meaning of that day. As an American, I want to always remember that there are those who hate us so much that only killing us, maiming us, and destroying our way of life is all they live for, even hope to die for. They and their ideology is everything opposite to the goodness of the God most of us believe in. Trying to understand them is far more difficult than one might think. I think of the days, when training my team, of the importance of getting into the heads of the enemies we targeted, targeted to collect meaningful intelligence, that would protect us from the very evils of what took place on September 11, 2001.

On that horrible day I left work (I had retired from the Agency and was hired and worked as Director of Security for a major “Luxury” hotel, actually I ran two hotel Security Departments in Atlanta Georgia) around 8:00 AM, for my dreaded dental appointment. I had been seated and without being told why, my dentist was summoned and left. Being naturally inquisitive, I got out of my dental chair and went into the hall. There was no one to be found, but I heard moans and sounds that caused me to know something terrible was going on, and I followed the sounds until I found the source, a small office with the entire dental staff looking at a small TV on a desk. The site and sounds from the TV left me with a sick feeling inside I cannot describe. I told my dentist I would have to go, as my instincts from the past told me to get back to my hotels, and on the way to the downtown hotel, the car radio gave me reason to feel I made the right choice. While driving back my pager went off and I knew that was my General Manager trying to find me to alert me too return, which I already decided to do. The constant news reports on the radio only caused me to step on the gas and get back as soon as possible.

Once back I hurried to the General Manager’s office, where he was glued to the TV and he asked me to stay with him and watch as we discussed what measures we should, if any, take as it became very clear our country was under attack. I called my supervisors at both hotels and gave them specific instructions, based on my prior training, as at that time, there were no Security Department specific guidelines or instructions as how to react. It would only be days before we would get the word to initiate development of Security Instructions on how to respond should any of our hotels ever became a target of such an attack by any terrorist ideology. I use the word “Ideology” rather than country or nation as these acts are performed by enemies who believe in a specific ideology rather than a national threat from a country or nation. Although the cause of terrorist acts are a direct result of a specific “Ideology”, we cannot forget that there are countries or nations who are “sponsors” of such aggressive actives, and I think we all know what countries or nations are involved in sponsoring such terroristic aggression on the “Western World”. We should never confuse the “Ideology” with the religions or governments of the world; it is a mindset, a way of thinking by a growing number of “Ideologically different thought processes” that many of us will never comprehend. It is my own personal opinion, as children of God; we must never condemn cultures for the acts of those who are mesmerized by an “Ideology” that drives those who have a deep inner hate for, not just America, but all who differ in their beliefs.

Remembering September 11, 2001, is for all of us to do, not just one political party or the other, for it was America that was attacked on that fateful day, we were all the target of a warped ideology and if at no other time, this time, should be set aside for remembering those who not only died or were maimed that day, but all those who responded, volunteered, prayed or just felt the pain of horrors seldom imagined by anyone never experiencing the suffering inflicted by those who hate, hate to the point of wanting someone to pay a price for not believing in what they believe in. If you have not guessed it, I am having difficulty in expressing my thoughts today, just as I did ten years ago, just a few days from now, when September 11 will once again draw Americans together, although it will never match that of those who were either there, lost someone, felt their loss, experienced the anxiety of the unknown, or just knowing it happened. I still find it incredible that there are those who still, to this day, believe it either did not happen in the way it did or that it was a conspiracy by our Government or Israel, or both! All the evidence in the world will never change their minds, nothing can as it diminishes their being, their absolute hatred of their own government or country or both. It’s really very sad, for they live in a world of make believe, one that fits their lack of self worth.

There are many who hate President Bush for reasons known only to them. So easy to blame a man (President Bush was just a man, who was elected to lead our country, but just a man) for the failings of a government gone wild. Congress wrote the bills and Bush signed them into law. But nothing he did or signed will ever compare to the past few years under a president who believes in “Progressive Values”, again, our current president, is just a man, but one who embraces socialistic values, chooses to believe in the very political “Ideology” that conforms to a nation absent of God, absent of the ideals of an America able to create a growing economy without the help of an administration and congress that depletes America’s wealth by Its redistribution, and this uncaring President who’s intent is to “Transform” an America that was doing fairly well, until he decided that he, who knows nothing of governing, is the smartest man alive. Another sad result of taking away what rightfully belongs to “We the People”, but not for long, as we do intend to set thing right come November of 2012. Sorry, I intended this to be a time to remember what took place 10 years ago, and forgotten by so many so soon. How can we behave in the way we do, if we really do remember the tragedy of 9/11. We must never allow those in this country distort the truth about what happened that day. An enemy, who’s “Ideology” differs from ours to the point of a hatred so intense they plan every day, every month and every year, to do it again, and again, and again, and they will!

As our President destroys the credibility of a wonderful nation, blessed by God, begs for forgiveness for being the most giving country that ever existed, and pushes our allies away, selling them out by giving not only our secrets, but theirs to those who will use them to destroy us, danger grows daily that our once great nation will soon join the ranks of the third world. This President cannot spend our way to prosperity, he must allow America to do its magic and grow its self, something she has always done, given the chance. Before the President got up and spoke to the “Union followers” in Detroit the other day, Jimmy Hoffa ranted about the “Union’s going to war with the “Tea Party” saying: “Let’s take these SOB’s out”! Then the President speaks, as usual, about nothing, just more gibberish on the same old things (spending money). This, just days before we are to recall the horrors of 9/11. While the “progressives” talk hate, “We the People” (The Tea Party) talk about restoring America’s greatness and remembering those how gave it all, on a day America should never, ever forget. If I am right, and I pray that I am wrong, what happened on September 11, 2001, will soon happen again, maybe not in the same way, but if you think that because Osama bin Laden has been eliminated, those who follow him have not been planning how to do something even more horrific than what took place 10 years ago, you live in a dream world. Until September is gone and October begins, my fears of a response to replicate in some way, what took place on 9/11m will haunt me, and my “gut” is seldom wrong, I just pray I have an upset stomach and my over active imagination has been in overdrive the past few days.

I ask that all those of like minds, “We the People” spend the next few days praying for our nation, and once we feel that the threat of those who hate us has diminished to the point we can think only of those we should be thinking of during this time of remembrance. My father worked at the Pentagon, as one of my younger brother’s did. My father, mother and brother are buried at Arlington Cemetery (nothing to do with 9/11, although my brother died a month later) As a military family, I miss being able to call my father, brother, or one of my sons, to discuss the challenges of the day, but I know where they are, and I still talk to them through prayer, and know that if they could, they would be here to do their part in righting the wrongs of the world, that’s just who they were, how I miss them right now, and always, but especially right now.

As we enter the period of time that we look for the right person to lead our country, never forget, whoever we decide on, I mean the person nominated by the Republican Party to run for the highest office in our land, we all must get behind him or her and not debate further, to do so will divide us and that is what the Progressives are counting on, hoping for, praying for (those who pray)! We must stand united and make sure that a conservative sits in the White House come Jan, 2013. We must not fail; to fail is to participate in the decline of our great nation, a nation blessed by God! If for no other reason, let’s do it for all those innocent people who got up on September 11, 2001, a beautiful sunny day, and went to work, never a clue that hours later that morning so many would perish at the hands of those who’s ideology bred hatred for “We the People”, and we really do not forget!

Wednesday, May 18, 2011

My Granddaughter's Interview

My Granddaughter’s love




(I never put pictures of my granddaughters on the web for any reason, I love them, all three of them, far to much)






Yesterday I received a phone call from one of my three granddaughters. This one is twelve years old and called to ask if I would participate in a class project which called for an interview of someone she loved but did not know a lot about their past, likes or dislikes, etc. This was followed up by an email that outlined the questions she would be asking me over the phone, as she lives to far for a day trip for an interview. I was not only honored that she selected me, but delighted that she wanted to have that conversation (interview if you will) with me, out of all she could have chosen from, it was me she wanted to know about. When I read the questions sent via the email, I was astonished at the depth and personal nature of the questions involved. I was so anxious I started without her and filled out the questions on the email sent. I tried to be complete, honest and deliberate in all my responses, hoping to give her an in-depth look into who her grandpa was and is. The questions ranged from my age, my family’s names and number of siblings and sex of each, in the order they were born, to my experiences in Vietnam, my fears, my advice for the world and how her Nana and I met and details of our courtship (only how we met and some of our “funny” experiences in that courtship).


It was while completing the interview that I realized just how little my own granddaughter, almost a teenager now, knew about me, her grandpa who thought we had the best and closest relationship any grandpa could ever hope to have with their grandchildren. So I started a journey down memory lane, giving a peek into an old man’s life, what made him to be how he is and thought about how my granddaughter would see me once exposed to a person she thought she knew. How different would I appear to be to her? Would she love me more, less, or about the same? I wanted to be honest, but would she see me differently once exposed to some of my inner thoughts and feeling about war, my fears, my likes and dislikes, and my granddaughters whom I love more than anything I can think of, other than their Nana or Uncles.




The more I answered her well thought out questions, exposing my soul to a young girl, between a child and a young woman, who grew up holding my hands at Disneyland, and still sits on the edge of my bed (due to my disabilities) to watch Braves games with me, and just tell me about her day. Now she was learning about mine (my past) and more, my love, who is known to me as Val, my wife, and to my granddaughter as Nana, her grandma. I was careful not to be too graphic about my experiences in Vietnam, but did not want to insult her intelligence by giving her a redacted version of what war is, so sanitized that the truth of the horrors of war would be lost, so I carefully carved out a picture that detailed the war as I saw it without detailing the graphic nature of any war to the point she might lose the importance of learning the truth. This was a difficult task, but like her father, now sharing a place in heaven with God, her great grandma and great grandpa, and one of her uncles, my granddaughter is very intelligent, advanced in the school system, just as her father was, and she would easily see through any tainted picture that I might give her about my life experiences. She wanted the truth and to know, so as gently as I could, I gave her what she needed to know, wanted to know, and actually had to know, the truth.




As I finished or completed my interview and reviewed it to ensure I gave her something that would teach her not only about her grandpa, but some history that she will never get in school. Our travels and assignments took us, over the years, to Greece and Ethiopia during times of turmoil and the making of history, how is really was, as seen through the eyes of her grandpa and Nana, who were there, experienced the strife of countries being over thrown, kings and Emperors removed from power and conditions of life that only those living it could experience it or understand it. So my twelve year old, innocent, granddaughter, got insight into who her grandpa was, is and will always be. She learned that the world is not everything she sees on TV and that what is told by reporters are not the same as being told by her grandparents who lived it, survived it, became a part of it, history as it was, not told in books she will surely read now that she has a taste of the real world, both the good and the not so good.




Earlier today she called me and first thanked me for writing it all down for her in a way that gave her perspective she could only learn by stories told by her grandpa, while truthful, she wondered if I embellished anything, and of course I told her the truth, as I always do, “of course I did not embellish anything, what I wrote is exactly as it happened, how it was, my true life experiences as reflected by me, a real person she could relate to and trust that I would not lie or fool her. For that, she loves me and for that, I am blessed, for she is special and I only wish I could be around to experience far more with her, instead of leaving her a debt she, nor her children will ever be able to repay, a life that will be in jeopardy of living her live out under a “Socialist” government, rather than the one I grew up with, one I was not afraid of, one I am unable to defend her against as my age and health will not allow. As we talked about the answers to her interview questions, I could tell she was intrigued with her grandpa’s life. She knew that I served in the Intelligence Community, but never truly comprehended the significance of the life I lived, in so many places, and that her Nana shared many or most of those experiences with me. She never really considered that her dad was born and raised in Africa, in Ethiopia, while it still had an “Emperor” or in lived in Greece while it was under the rule of a “King”. The daily dangers that her Nana faced as she followed me around the world in exotic places, knowing I worked for the government but even as my wife, never knew what I did, or why so many people from countries, once our enemies, wanted to hurt me or kill me and even tried at times. To know he grandpa and Nana were chased by natives tossing spears at them, prior to the interview, was just a story her grandpa and Nana told her growing up, but now after the interview, those stories became all too real and she now grasp the significance of what she now knew, and would never have learned about in school, not in a way that was so personal.




Bottom line, the interview connected me with my granddaughter in a way that nothing else ever could, and I am so glad that she chose me to do her interview with, of all the people she could have chosen, she picked me, and I had a responsibility to tell her, with care, a little about her grandpa and Nana, and far more about “History” as it really was, rather than what someone want it to be told in a school we no longer can trust to teach our children the truth about the world. It is up to us to tell our grandchildren, at every chance and opportunity, about our life experience, and why it is important to pass on to those we love our experiences so that they know who we are and why. It is up to us to educate the next generations at every opportunity about the reasons why it is important for them to pick up the pieces and put what we broke back together again, before the pieces get lost. I also learned something during the interview, something I guess I took far too much for granted. I learned a lot about a Granddaughter’s love for her grandpa, and for now, that is enough.

Financial terrorism suspected in 2008 economic crash (From: Washington Times)

Financial terrorism suspected in 2008 economic crash




Pentagon study sees element




Evidence outlined in a Pentagon contractor report suggests that financial subversion carried out by unknown parties, such as terrorists or hostile nations, contributed to the 2008 economic crash by covertly using vulnerabilities in the U.S. financial system.







The unclassified 2009 report “Economic Warfare: Risks and Responses” by financial analyst Kevin D. Freeman, a copy of which was obtained by The Washington Times, states that “a three-phased attack was planned and is in the process against the United States economy.”



While economic analysts and a final report from the federal government's Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission blame the crash on such economic factors as high-risk mortgage lending practices and poor federal regulation and supervision, the Pentagon contractor adds a new element: “outside forces,” a factor the commission did not examine.



“There is sufficient justification to question whether outside forces triggered, capitalized upon or magnified the economic difficulties of 2008,” the report says, explaining that those domestic economic factors would have caused a “normal downturn” but not the “near collapse” of the global economic system that took place.



Suspects include financial enemies in Middle Eastern states, Islamic terrorists, hostile members of the Chinese military, or government and organized crime groups in Russia, Venezuela or Iran. Chinese military officials publicly have suggested using economic warfare against the U.S.


Michael G. Vickers, assistant secretary of defense for special operations, said the Pentagon was not the appropriate agency to assess economic warfare and financial terrorism risks. (Associated Press)



In an interview with The Times, Mr. Freeman said his report provided enough theoretical evidence for an economic warfare attack that further forensic study was warranted.



“The new battle space is the economy,” he said. “We spend hundreds of billions of dollars on weapons systems each year. But a relatively small amount of money focused against our financial markets through leveraged derivatives or cyber efforts can result in trillions of dollars in losses. And, the perpetrators can remain undiscovered.



“This is the equivalent of box cutters on an airplane,” Mr. Freeman said.


Paul Bracken, a Yale University professor who has studied economic warfare, said he saw “no convincing evidence that ‘outside forces’ colluded to bring about the 2008 crisis.”



“There were outside players in the market” for unregulated credit default swaps, Mr. Bracken said in an e-mail. “Foreign banks and hedge funds play the shorts all the time too. But suggestions of an organized targeted attack for strategic reasons don’t seem to me to be plausible.”



Regardless of the report’s findings, U.S. officials and outside analysts said the Pentagon, the Treasury Department and U.S. intelligence agencies are not aggressively studying the threats to the United States posed by economic warfare and financial terrorism.



“Nobody wants to go there,” one official said.


A copy of the report also was provided to the recently concluded Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission, but the commission also declined to address the possibility of economic warfare in its final report.



Officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said senior Pentagon policymakers, including Michael Vickers, an assistant defense secretary in charge of special operations, blocked further study, saying the Pentagon was not the appropriate agency to assess economic warfare and financial terrorism risks.



Mr. Vickers declined to be interviewed but, through a spokesman, said he did not say economic warfare was not an area for the Pentagon to study, and that he did not block further study.



Mr. Vickers is awaiting Senate confirmation on his promotion to be undersecretary of defense for intelligence.



Despite his skepticism of the report, Mr. Bracken agreed that financial warfare needs to be studied, and he noted that the U.S. government is only starting to address the issue.



“We are in an era like the 1950s where technological innovation is transforming the tools of coercion and war,” he said. “We tend not to see this, and look at information warfare, financial warfare, precision strike, [weapons of mass destruction], etc. as separate silos. It’s their parallel co-evolution that leads to interesting options, like counter-elite targeting. And no one is really looking at this in an overall ‘systems’ way. Diplomacy is way behind here.”



Mr. Freeman wrote the report for the Pentagon’s Irregular Warfare Support Program, part of the Combating Terrorism Technical Support Office, which examines unconventional warfare scenarios.



“The preponderance of evidence that cannot be easily dismissed demands a thorough and immediate study be commenced,” the report says. “Ignoring the likelihood of this very real threat ensures a catastrophic event.”



The report concluded that the evidence of an attack is strong enough that “financial terrorism may have cost the global economy as much as $50 trillion.”



Because of secrecy surrounding global banking and finance, finding the exact identities of the attackers will be difficult.



But U.S. opponents in Russia who could wage economic warfare include elements of the former KGB intelligence and political police who regard the economy as a “logical extension of the Cold War,” the report says.



Asked by The Times who he thought to be the most likely behind the financial attacks, Mr. Freeman said: “Unfortunately, the two major strategic threats, radical jihadists and the Chinese, are among the best positioned in the economic battle space.”



Also, the report lists as suspects advocates of Islamic law, who have publicly called for opposition to capitalism as a way to promote what they regard as the superiority of Islam.



Further Pentagon Low Intensity Conflict office research into possible economic warfare or financial terrorism being behind the economic collapse by the Pentagon’s Special Operations and was blocked, Mr. Freeman said.



The Pentagon report states that the evidence of financial subversion revealed that the first two phases of an attack on the U.S. economy took place from 2007 to 2009 and “based on recent global market activity, it appears that the predicted Phase III may be underway right now.”



The report states that federal authorities must further investigate two significant events in the months leading up to the financial crisis.



The first phase of the economic attack, the report said, was the escalation of oil prices by speculators from 2007 to mid-2008 that coincided with the housing finance crisis.



In the second phase, the stock market collapsed by what the report called a “bear raid” from unidentified sources on Bear Stearns, Lehman Brothers and other Wall Street firms.



“This produced a complete collapse in credit availability and almost started a global depression,” Mr. Freeman said.



The third phase is what Mr. Freeman states in the report was the main source of the economic system’s vulnerability. “We have taken on massive public debt as the government was the only party who could access capital markets in late 2008 and early 2009,” he said, placing the U.S. dollar’s global reserve currency status at grave risk.



“This is the ‘end game’ if the goal is to destroy America,” Mr. Freeman said, noting that in his view China’s military “has been advocating the potential for an economic attack on the U.S. for 12 years or longer as evidenced by the publication of the book Unrestricted Warfare in 1999.”



Additional evidence provided by Mr. Freeman includes the statement in 2008 by Treasury Secretary Henry M. Paulson Jr. that the Russians had approached the Chinese with a plan to dump its holdings of bonds by the federally backed mortgage companies Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.



Among the financial instruments that may have been used in the economic warfare scenario are credit default swaps, unregulated and untraceable contracts by which a buyer pays the seller a fee and in exchange is paid off in a bond or a loan. The report said credit default swaps are “ideal bear-raid tools” and “have the power to determine the financial viability of companies.”



Another economic warfare tool that was linked in the report to the 2008 crash is what is called “naked short-selling” of stock, defined as short-selling financial shares without borrowing them.



The report said that 30 percent to 70 percent of the decline in stock share values for two companies that were attacked, Bear Stearns and Lehman Brothers, were results of failed trades from naked short-selling.



The collapse in September 2008 of Lehman Brothers, the fourth-largest U.S. investment bank, was the most significant event in the crash, causing an immediate credit freeze and stock market crash, the report says.



In a section of who was behind the collapse, the report says determining the actors is difficult because of banking and financial trading secrecy.



“The reality of the situation today is that foreign-based hedge funds perpetrating bear raid strategies could do so virtually unmonitored and unregulated on behalf of enemies of the United States,” the report says.



“Only recently have defense and intelligence agencies begun to consider this very real possibility of what amounts to financial terrorism and-or economic warfare.”


As for Chinese involvement in economic sabotage, the decline in the world economy may have hurt Beijing through a decline in purchases of Chinese goods.



Treasury spokeswoman Marti Adams had no immediate comment on the report but said her department’s views on the causes of the economic crash were well known.